is a Slovenian writer, playwright and essayist based in Ljubljana. In the mid-1970s, in the relatively liberal Yugoslavia, he was imprisoned on a charge of hostile propaganda, for bringing from Austria and lending to some friends a booklet about a wartime massacre perpetrated by Tito’s troops in 1945. He was released after three months and called up for military service in Serbia. In 1987-1991 he was the Chair of the Slovenian PEN Centre. Jančar has received a number of literary awards, including the Prešeren Award, Slovenia’s most prestigious arts award in 1993, for his narratives, plays and essays; the Kresnik Award for best novel of the year in 1999, 2001 and 2011; the European Short Story Award (Augsburg, 1994); the Herder Prize for literature in 2003; the Jean Améry essay award (2007) and the European Prize for Literature in 2011. Since 1995, he has been a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. His books in English translation include Mocking Desire (1998), The Prophecy and Other Stories (2008); Northern Lights (2011); the Galley Slave (2011)